


Eyes Turned Skyward

by tehhumi



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Gen, House of Elwe, Line of Lúthien, Magical Artifacts, Series of Vignettes, Third Kinslaying aftermath, mild fantasy ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehhumi/pseuds/tehhumi
Summary: Elwing knew that she would fly the moment she stepped from her tower.It wasn't Ulmo’s grace that saved her, but Luthien’s.





	Eyes Turned Skyward

**Author's Note:**

> “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”  
> \- Leonardo da Vinci

It’s said that Luthien was a Man when she was reborn, but that’s not entirely true. She was no longer an elf, but she was still the daughter of a Maia. When Dior her son was born, she wove a cloak of feathers for him, as she had once woven her own hair into a cloak of shadows.

 

The people of Doriath knew about their king and his children and what they could do. But they were long accustomed both to monarchs with great abilities and to keeping secrets. He was their king, and he had a beautiful cloak which he wore only rarely, flying being of little use in an underground city. The princes and princess adored their cloaks though, and birdsong was heard in the kingdom again as it had not been since Melian left, though the notes were no longer those of nightingales.

 

As the Feanorians descended on the city like a plague, Dior did not put on his cloak. He would not abandon his people, and a kite would be little use in battle.

Elured and Elurin were draped in their cloaks but not truly _wearing_ them when the soldiers found them. When the realized the soldiers were not going to get their parents, and had actually abandoned them, the twins pulled their cloaks on fully. Maedhros searched long for them, but he paid no mind to the pair of owls high in a tree.

Elwing did not wear her cloak as she left, for she was more practiced at being a quiet elfling than a quiet bird. She carried it though, and let no others touch it, all the journey to Sirion.

 

The Feanorians attacked Sirion, and Elwing had one hope. There was no reason, if she handed over the gem now, for the murderers to keep their word and spare her family. More likely they would all be killed and the Feanorians would be free of the line that had plagued them for decades. (Elwing does not know where her brothers are, has not seen them since that night.) She would flee for now, and wait nearby for her sons to join her. She leapt out the window, and an osprey spread her wings.

After hours in which no other creatures flew from the city, Elwing lost hope. Elrond and Elros were surely no longer alive, or else they would have come. She set her course for Valinor. Her grandmother had proven that Lord Namo could be persuaded. She would not be separated from her children for long.

 

When Maglor first saw Elwing’s sons, Elros was standing on Elrond’s shoulders and trying to open a cabinet that was still above Elros’s head. He was just in time to watch them overbalance and tumble to the floor, at which point they noticed him and froze. He walked over to the cabinet himself, and inside were two beautiful cloaks, covered in white and black feathers as shiny and smooth as if on a living bird.

The boys would not initially say what was so important about the cloaks. When Maedhros proposed selling them though, Elrond was frightened enough to speak. He explained that the cloaks allowed them to change into falcons, and that they didn’t know what would happen if the cloaks were damaged. Maedhros thought this nothing more than the overactive imagination of a sheltered child, but brought the cloaks along anyway. You can’t sell what you don’t have, after all.

The Feanorian brothers were rather surprised that night at camp when Elros managed to get away from his guard long enough to grab his cloak and put it on. He was however not a large enough bird to lift Elrond, or even the other cloak. Threatening the second convinced Elros to land readily enough, and thereafter the cloaks were kept locked away.

 

When Elrond and Elros were sent off to Gil-Galad, their cloaks were returned. But they had not been worn in decades, and had not grown with their wearers. When the made camp the first night, Elrond wrapped his cloak around his shoulders. He heard the wind whistling across feathers and saw again the sea through clouds, but it was a vision and no more.

“My wings don’t fit anymore.”

“They crippled us.”

“They didn’t know –”

“Do honesty you think they would’ve done anything differently if they had?

Elrond sighed. “They probably wouldn’t have. I don’t think flying around is appropriate behavior for a prince of the Noldor.”

 

 

Elros chose Men. He’d already lost part of his heritage; giving up another piece hurt less than it might have otherwise. The fading of Men’s memories was a boon as well; in a few years he would no longer perfectly recall flying the way he never could again. Still, when he sailed for the island of the gift, Elrond insisted that he take both cloaks, for any children he might have.

 

When Vëantur sailed out of the west, he brought a small bundle for Elrond. It contained two cloaks, and a letter written by Elros Tar-Minyatur saying only “My children and grandchildren all tried, but Men can’t fly.”

 

When Celebrian gave birth to twins, Elrond took out the old cloaks from the chest he had kept them in since Numenor fell. (He has little desire to recall the sight of the sea since it drowned his kin.) He swaddled Elrohir and Elladan in them every night. Maybe the cloaks were not the type of thing that can be shared or given away; maybe they were broken for good. But maybe they still worked, and Elrond’s children could have what had been stolen from him.

 

When Elrohir was four years old, he turned into an eagle. He was so surprised he fell over, and couldn’t figure out how to get back up. His screeches brought Elrond from his study. Elrond laughed only a little bit before talking him through how to stretch each wing slowly to learn its balance, and how to push with his shoulders to get his feet back under him. By dinnertime Elrond had completed none of his paperwork, but Elrohir could walk around the room and climb stairs without dragging his wingtips. He returned to elven shape as soon as he heard dinner being called.

Elrond cried when the boys were ten years old and their cloaks were undeniably, measurably longer, growing with Elladan and Elrohir. The tears were mostly joyful, that his sons would not have to endure the amputation he did. But a small, selfish part of him grieved that his cloak was separated from him for good.

 

When Celebrian got pregnant a second time, Elrond was a whirlwind of activity. He rode to Lothlorien and Eryn Galen, asking to speak with any who had been close to his mother or grandfather. But the magic of Melian’s descendants had been a carefully guarded secret, and Dior had told only a few. Those few had taught Elwing, but many of them had guarded her at Sirion. Those who survived had sailed after the War of Wrath to reunite with their Lady. By sword or by ship, all who knew the crafting of such cloaks were on the far side of the sea.

Dissecting one of the two existing cloaks would show what enchantments were within it, but there was a difference between seeing a spell and replicating it. There would be no guarantee even of rebuilding the original. Elrohir and Elladan both bravely volunteered, but their parents forbade it. The would not sacrifice one child for another.

Galadriel had studied under Queen Melian herself. She said to recreate the cloaks from scratch would be the work of centuries, if indeed it was possible at all. Perhaps she and Elrond, with his Maia heritage, could accomplish it, if they neglected their realms entirely and relied on Celebrimbor’s rings, and if the new child felt called to the form of a bird nearly as strongly as to the form of an elf. The child would grow up with a father and grandmother who were only half in the world, and Middle Earth would lose two of its strongest defenders, but they might be able to fly. Or they might not, as they would reach majority long before any cloak could be made, and so it would not entwine with their growing hröa as Elrohir and Elladan’s had.

Arwen did not get a cloak.

 

Years later Arwen told her father that her choice was her own, and he should not blame himself. He tried to believe her.

He could not help thinking that if she knew the depth of joy in flight, she would have chosen differently, or at least known better what she was sacrificing.

 

The ship was still nearly two days out from Valinor when there were reports of a large bird approaching. Elrond went below decks as soon the lookout confirmed it as an osprey.

**Author's Note:**

> List of birds:  
> Dior: White-tailed Kite  
> Elured & Elurin: Fearful Owl  
> Elwing: Osprey  
> Elros & Elrond: Peregrine Falcon  
> Elladan & Elrohir: Steller’s Sea Eagle


End file.
